Burnley vs Chelsea – The Blues are back – Preview & Predictions

Mourinho’s new-look Blues will aim to get the new campaign off to the best start possible as they travel to newly promoted Burnley on Monday night.

Venue: Turf Moor Date: Monday, 18th August  Kick-off: 8:00PM GMT  On TV: Sky Sports 1

Burnley will provide a test for Mourinho’s Chelsea side as they return to the Premier League since their relegation in 2010, as they aim to avoid relegation during their 53rd season in the English top flight.

Chelsea, who have strengthened brilliantly over the summer with the arrivals of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas inparticular, will be looking to amend for their trophyless campaign last season as Mourinho returned to The Bridge.

Chelsea kicked last season off with a 2-0 win over then newly promoted Hull City, courtesy of goals from Oscar and a stunner from the recently departed Frank Lampard.

Once again, Chelsea face a side who recently gained promotion, but this time away from home, as they come face-to-face with boyant Burnley supporters who will be looking to make Chelsea players and fans as uncomfortable as possible as they search for an unlikely win on the first day of the season.

And, as Everton showed on Saturday with their 2-2 draw with Leicester City, facing those sides buzzing from recent success is never easy, so Chelsea must be wary.

That being said, Chelsea players and staff, like the fans, will be expecting a win as they look to get the campaign in which many are tipping them for the title off to a solid start away from Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea enjoyed a relatively successful pre-season which was made even sweeter by the performances of their new signings, particularly Fabregas and Costa, as they linked up well and got 2 and 4 goals respectively.

This more relaxed introduction to Chelsea life will help the pair, as well as Filipe Luis who signed from Atlético, as opposed to Fernando Torres who was thrown straight into competitive football after signing in January.

Both teams have the luxury of an almost complete roster of players from which to select their starting line ups. The only absentee for chelsea is Ramires, who is still completing a four match suspension which carries over from last season.

Didier Drogba is expected to overcome an injury scare and be included in the squad, while Burnley are missing Dummigan and Vokes due to injury.

One of the biggest talking points leading up to this seasons opener from a Chelsea point of view has been the goalkeeping situation. With two world-class keepers to choose from, Mourinho is keeping his cards close to his chest, but Courtois is widely expected to get the nod over Chelsea legend Petr Cech.

Another relatively grey area is the Chelsea defence, which was the most solid in the Premier League last season. With the arrival of left-back Filipe Luis, a battle for a starting place in the full-back positions starts between himself, Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic, with many combinations tested during pre-season.

The centre of defence is clear though, with the English core of Gary Cahill and captain John Terry looking set for another solid season in the Blues backline.

However, Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa are all but certain to make their competitive Chelsea debuts at Turf Moor as Mourinho goes in hunt for a strong start in his bid for his third Premier League crown.

Many believe Chelsea’s depth makes them favourites this season, but they’ll be hoping they won’t have to call upon reinforcements on Monday evening as they face the Premier League new boys, which is always dangerous as a first fixture.

The main worry for Chelsea will be memories of last season, when games against, with all due respect, the so called ‘smaller teams’, would end up in a frustrating draw or an embarrassing loss which eventually lost the London side the title come May.

Chelsea will have to watch their rivals compete over the weekend and most likely gain maximum points, but focus must be set on Monday night and getting the 2014/15 bandwagon rolling.

Despite the difficulty of a hostile away atmosphere, Chelsea will surely take all three points away from Turf Moor.

Burnley v Chelsea – Pre match stats:

  • Chelsea are unbeaten in their opening fixture since 1998 (Won 13 out of 15)
  • Chelsea have won all of their five opening weekends with Jose Mourinho as manager (5)
  • Cesc Fabregas played 24 accurate through balls last season, more than any other player across EuropeÂ’s top five leagues.
  • Thibaut Courtois has kept 12 clean sheets in 2014, joint-most along with Diego Lopez across EuropeÂ’s top five leagues.
  • Cesc Fabregas has scored in each of his two Premier League appearances against Burnley

Source: Opta

Burnley vs Chelsea – Predicted lineup:

Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Luis; Matic, Mikel; Hazard, Fabregas, Oscar; Costa

Billy’s prediction: Burnley 1-2 Chelsea

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Chelsea News